Recent Aggression

GraciesMom · May 11, 2018

I can't believe I'm writing this post. Over the last week we've had snapping and biting incidents with our 6 1/2 month old Frenchie. It's puzzling because it's so out of character. Last week I noticed she had lost the hair on her nose wrinkle. I was trying to apply vitamin E oil to soothe it. She started to struggle and then bit the finger approaching her nose. She didn't break the skin but it was clearly a defensive bite. A trip to the vet revealed she had demodectic mange in that area. So now I'm supposed to clean it and apply an ointment twice a day and it's not going well. We've tried using treats to distract her and that worked once or twice but she's now back to biting. She's also resource guarding all of a sudden. My husband was taking out the trash and she kept trying to get into it. He gently started to pull her away and she snapped at him. She growled at me this morning when I approached her while eating. We've never had any problem with handling her anywhere or taking things away from her previously. I've spoken to the vet and contacted a trainer he recommended. Nonetheless I'm heartbroken because my sister had this problem with a Lab and despite training and consulting a dog psychologist, it didn't end well. Has anyone faced this type of problem and gotten a good outcome?

Alice Kable · May 11, 2018

I am so sorry you are going through this with Grace. She is young to be behaving this way and you are smart to get right on this behavior. A good trainer who is familiar with Bulldogs should help get her aggressiveness corrected.

GraciesMom · May 11, 2018

The only other thing I can think of is that she finally got her rabies shot two weeks ago. Could that cause aggressive behavior? There was one incident before the shot where she got aggressive -- she attacked a towel I was drying her with.Turns out she had a sore ear -- that's how I found out about it. She literally yelped the next day when the vet touched it. That problem has since resolved. I am also wondering if all the medical problems have taken their toll -- she has been poked and prodded a lot.

Honeys Owners · May 11, 2018

I'm wondering if she's feeling under the weather from the mange. It'd be worth trying oral Nexgard at 0,14 and 28 days and then monthly and that will also take care of ticks and fleas. Also she should get oral cephalexin in case there's a skin infection going on as well. And of course, give her some probiotics to build up her immune system.

GraciesMom · May 11, 2018

The vet did give her the oral nexgard when we had her in a few days ago. He said it attacks the mites causing the mange as well as ticks and fleas. She does not appear to have a skin infection but he did prescribe an anti-fungal. I also found a specialty pet store in our area and purchased Answers fermented raw goats milk. I'm new at this but understand from the proprietor that it would help build up her immune system. She's truly had a rough time -- coccidia, giardia, aspirational pneumonia, vaginitis, a UTI, a yeast ear infection, elevated liver enzymes and now localized demodectic mange. I'd probably bite the next finger coming my way with medicinal goop on it if I was in her position.

davidh · May 11, 2018

Holy crap, she has had a lot of health issues. Bad breeding at it's best. Sorry you are going through this with her. I would have the vet also check her thyroid levels, as they can cause aggression. I hope it all works out for you.

Honeys Owners · May 11, 2018

Sorry to hear about all that has happened to her, and to you as well. I'm wondering if she has some deep seated ear infection as well, which is very painful and can cause aggression. You said the ear infection had resolved, but maybe it came back.

I'm also thinking you can step up the game to build up the immune system at this point. The goats milk is great, and maybe you can try adding on some live sauerkraut you get from refrigerator section of health food store, or a doggie probiotic such as Proviable DC. My dog had bad food allergies and was always licking her paws and shaking her head from her ear issues. The paw problem went away when I switched to dehydrated raw, and the ear problem finally improved when I switched to frozen raw. If you don't switch to raw, at lease make sure food she is getting is grain free and not chicken. But the very best for allergies will be frozen raw, and next best is dehydrated raw.

GraciesMom · May 11, 2018

As usual, I'm very appreciative of the member support on this forum. I had Pugs for the last 15 years, raised from puppies, but with Gracie I feel like a novice.

I definitely made some mistakes with this breeder. I thought I was getting a pup from a reputable one since she was a certified AKC BRED with HEART breeder. This designation means the breeder has to meet certain health testing requirements for parents and pups but I should have asked harder questions. Nonetheless, Gracie has been a sweet, funny little girl. We've just rolled from one issue to another hoping her immune system would improve with age. The behavioral problems are just unexpected and quirky. Just today I reached in to pull something out of her mouth with no problem.

I'm very interested in doing raw. Answers is doing a seminar in our area to discuss their products and I plan on going. I believe they are actually going to give some sample product to anyone who pre-registers.

As for the sauerkraut, is that something I should add -- like maybe goat's milk in the morning and the sauerkraut in the evening? Honeys Owners, does your Frenchie eat it readily? And how much do you give?

Thanks again everyone!

Honeys Owners · May 12, 2018

GraciesMom said:
As usual, I'm very appreciative of the member support on this forum. I had Pugs for the last 15 years, raised from puppies, but with Gracie I feel like a novice.

I definitely made some mistakes with this breeder. I thought I was getting a pup from a reputable one since she was a certified AKC BRED with HEART breeder. This designation means the breeder has to meet certain health testing requirements for parents and pups but I should have asked harder questions. Nonetheless, Gracie has been a sweet, funny little girl. We've just rolled from one issue to another hoping her immune system would improve with age. The behavioral problems are just unexpected and quirky. Just today I reached in to pull something out of her mouth with no problem.

I'm very interested in doing raw. Answers is doing a seminar in our area to discuss their products and I plan on going. I believe they are actually going to give some sample product to anyone who pre-registers.

As for the sauerkraut, is that something I should add -- like maybe goat's milk in the morning and the sauerkraut in the evening? Honeys Owners, does your Frenchie eat it readily? And how much do you give?

Thanks again everyone!

Some dogs seem to throw up on the raw goats milk or sauerkraut,or other probiotics, so build up gradually, and aim for about a tablespoon a day of the sauerkraut, not in the same meal as the goats milk. You won't have to do this forever, but you can continue forever if you wish. It will work out less expensive if you give milk or water kefir, and make it yourself,which I do from the grains I bought. Milk kefir is supposed to be healthier than water kefir, but I got tired of its sour milk taste, so I have been making water kefir ever since. I gradually grew tired of the taste of the water kefir, so I give it to my dog only now,and she seems to like the taste of the kefir water or grains and doesn't throw up on it.

Honeys Owners · May 12, 2018

Also, Answers Detailed Formula raw food is a great way of getting into frozen raw food. I find most of the frozen raw foods sold nation wide a bit expensive, so I buy a locally sourced frozen raw dog food to save money, and add my own sea kelp powder and organic virgin coconut oil to each meal. I also add fish oil from a capsule to morning meal and to night meal either hemp seed oil or flaxseed oil. And once a week I give Vitamin E 400IU from a capsule which you are supposed to do if you are giving fish oil.

And if you think she has environmental allergies you should add an antihistamine. The one that has the best balance between efficacy and side effects seems to be cetirizine, but you should probably alternate after a while with other ones like loratidine, diphenhydramine or chlorpheniramine.

Also try to minimize vaccinations. You can probably get by with just two vaccines- the core vaccine and rabies. If she had the core vaccine at 12 weeks or later she can have titres done after that and will probably never need it again. The rabies vaccine will probably be a requirement every 3 years.

GraciesMom · May 12, 2018

I can't thank you enough. I have been trying to do research and came across kefir but it's hard to see the big picture -- how to start and combine everything into a comprehensive plan. This is great advice. I will get these products and ease her on to them. I'll try the Answers raw. I started transitioning her to Fromm but noticed more flatulence and softer stools so I'll stop that and wait until I get the Answers food.

Honeys Owners · May 12, 2018

You might want to try giving her the kibble as one meal and raw for second meal of the day for a week to transition her, just in case she has a sensitive stomach.

2bullymama · May 15, 2018

GraciesMom said:
I can't thank you enough. I have been trying to do research and came across kefir but it's hard to see the big picture -- how to start and combine everything into a comprehensive plan. This is great advice. I will get these products and ease her on to them. I'll try the Answers raw. I started transitioning her to Fromm but noticed more flatulence and softer stools so I'll stop that and wait until I get the Answers food.

Best of luck.... your a great Momma and all the info that Honeys Owners gave you should totally help.

usually when a dog shows this type of sudden behavior it is a sign of discomfort/pain.. so it could all be related to the health issues going on.

GraciesMom · May 15, 2018

Thank you Christine, I really hope so. I have a trainer coming to my house next week. But I've been thinking about taking her back to the vet. It probably isn't the case but it feels like this happened over night.